Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

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Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tafmec

Experimental study on shear failure modes and acoustic emission

characteristics of rock-like materials containing embedded 3D flaw
Mingyang Teng, Jing Bi, Yu Zhao *, Chaolin Wang
College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550025, China
Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Rock and Soil Mechanics and Engineering Safety, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, 550025, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In nature, rock mass usually contains natural defects, which affect the mechanical properties of rock mass. At the
Fractured rock mass same time, the failure of rock mass is often accompanied by shear failure behavior. Therefore, it is great sig­
Shear strength nificance to monitor and predict the shear failure process of fractured rock mass in order to ensure the stability of
Crack propagation
structure and the safety of construction. In this study, a method for making rock-like samples containing
Acoustic emission characteristics
Kernel density estimation
embedded 3D flaw is proposed and a series of shear tests are carried out under different normal stresses. The test
results show that the complex shear stress-shear displacement curve can be divided into four stages. The shear
strength, residual strength and shear modulus of the specimens are affected by the flaw dip angle and normal
stress. The tensile failure mode is more likely to occur in low stress and small flaw angle specimens, while the
shear failure mode mainly occurs in high stress specimens. A sudden increase in AE counts, AE event rates, and a
sudden decrease in b-value to a minimum are usually precursors to rock failure. The RA/AF value can accurately
reflect the classification and development of rock tension shear cracks. Through the Kernel density estimation
(KDE) analysis on the distribution of AE events, the damage locations of rock-like in each stage are effectively
identified. The movement of the maximum density point is consistent with the rock crack propagation tendency,
almost following the uniform diffusion of the specimens from the middle to the end.

1. Introduction 3D pre-existing flaw is really difficult to be prefabricated in rock sam­

With the increasingly exhausted of surface resources, deep under­
ground resources begin to attract the attention of researchers, so the
study of rock mass is inevitable [1-3]. It is well known that most rock
masses in nature have formed discontinuous structural planes of
different types and scales under the joint action of complex environment
and geological structure. These discontinuous structural planes usually
include faults, bedding, joints and fissures [4-10]. In practical engi­
neering, joint fissures usually exist in the rock slope and underground
rock caverns (Fig. 1). When the fractured rock mass is subjected to
various external forces, shear failure behavior may occur, which seri­
ously affects the stability of the rock slope and the surrounding rock
structure of the cave [11-13]. Therefore, it is great significance to study
the mechanical characteristics and deformation characteristics of
jointed and fractured rock mass, which can provide important reference
value for actual engineering construction [14,16,17].
In the existing studies, perforating and semi-perforating pre­
fabricated flaw are usually defined as two-dimensional flaw because the
ples. Therefore, scholars at home and abroad spend a lot of time on the
study of two-dimensional fractured rock mass and obtain lots of theo­
retical basis [18-20]. From these articles, it is found that high pressure
water jet and wire cutting technology are common methods to make
rock containing prefabricated fissures. The influences of different pre­
fabricated fissures distribution, scale effect, number, size, shape and
crack angle on rock mass are studied [21-27]. However, the propagation
of rocks containing embedded flaws has always been the focus of
attention. There are non-penetrating flaws in most natural rock masses,
which are generally defined as three-dimensional fissures. As early as
1963, Erdogan and Sih G.C. [28] made pioneering tests on three-
dimensional cracks and put forward the hypothesis that the failure of
rock mass expanded along the direction of maximum stress action. It is
not convenient for the test and research because the on-site sampling
cannot guarantee that there are flaws in the samples. Scholars use ce­
ramics, gypsum, epoxy resin, cement mortar and other materials to
make samples containing three-dimensional flaws, and research the
influence of fissure angle, number, rock bridge angle and spacing on the

* Corresponding author at: College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550025, China.
E-mail address: zhaoyucivil@126.com (Y. Zhao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2023.103750
Received 23 September 2022; Received in revised form 9 December 2022; Accepted 2 January 2023
Available online 5 January 2023
0167-8442/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Teng et al.
deformation law and strength characteristics of rock mass under uni­
axial and triaxial test conditions [29-31]. Dyskin et al. [32] carried out
uniaxial compression tests on specimens containing three-dimensional
prefabrication fissure, and studied the influence of three-dimensional
fissure location and shape on crack propagation of the specimens.
Zhou et al. [33] studied the process of crack initiation, propagation and
through failure of PMMA samples with three-dimensional cross fissures
under uniaxial compression.
In recent years, with the development of test monitoring technology,
many scholars at home and abroad use acoustic emission (AE) tech­
nology to monitor the process of rock failure in real time [34-37]. Rock
in the shear process will occur up, convex shear, abrasion and other
phenomena. Acoustic emission real-time monitoring technology is
similar to seismic monitoring, but much smaller in scale and higher in
frequency. It is an effective means to study the formation of micro cracks
or the opening and closing movement of existing cracks [38-41]. When
studying the shear failure behavior of non-persistent jointed rocks,
Zhang et al. [19] used energy rate and b-value to evaluate the acoustic
emission characteristics of jointed rocks, and found that the acoustic
emission parameters could well reflect the failure mechanism of sam­
ples. Liu et al. [42] systematically analyzed the influence of strain rate
on AE characteristic parameters, rock fracture characteristics and failure
evolution. However, the acoustic emission characteristics of rock con­
taining embedded three-dimensional flaws in the process of
compression-shear fracture are still unclear, which makes it difficult to
determine and characterize the micro fracture type.
To sum up, most of the existing studies focus on the through-joints,
while the researches of rock masses containing 3D flaws mainly focus
on the mechanical properties of the specimens under uniaxial and
triaxial compression tests. There are few researches on the failure of rock
mass containing three-dimensional embedded flaw under shear. It is
inconsistent with the actual engineering, leading to inaccurate estima­
tion of the actual rock strength, deformation and other characteristics,
and causing some hidden dangers of engineering safety. In this study, a
new method for making rock-like specimens containing three-
dimensional embedded flaw is presented. Cement mortar is used to
make samples with built-in three-dimensional flaw at different angles.
With the help of acoustic emission (AE) technology, the shear failure
characteristics of rock-like specimens under different flaw inclination
angles and different normal stresses are studied.
Fig. 1. Fractured rock mass under two different working conditions. (a) High rocky slope; (b) Underground rock caverns.
2
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Specimens preparation
This study mainly carries out a series of shear tests on rock-like
samples containing three-dimensional flaw, thus it is particularly
important to make the samples with flaw in this test. First, the prepared
camphor pellet (C10H16O) is fixed inside the cube plastic mold with thin
cotton thread, then the inside of the mold is coated with a release agent,
and after the cement mortar formed by mixing standard sand, reference
cement and water in a certain proportion (water: sand: cement =
1:3:0.48) is poured into the cube plastic mold. The poured molds are
placed in the room temperature for 24 h. Then the samples are placed in
the constant temperature and humidity box (temperature 20 ± 1 ◦ C,
relative humidity is 98 %) for 28 days after removing the molds, and
finally bake in the drying box at 50 ◦ C for 3 h, so as to remove the
camphor pellet inside the test block. It is noted that the camphor pellet
used in the test is solid at room temperature and easily sublimate when
heated. We take advantage of this property of the camphor pellet by
heating them to form gas that is then emitted through the pores of the
sample, forming a complete three-dimensional flaw inside the sample.
As shown in Fig. 2, after the sample containing flaw is cut by wire cut­
ting, it is observed that the mothball inside the sample has been
completely volatilized, and a complete prefabricated flaw has been
formed, which has no impact on the periphery of the flaw.
In this paper, the term “flaw” is used to describe the artificial defect
or fracture, while the term “crack” is used to describe new crack under
external load [43]. Fig. 3 shows the size of the sample (70 mm × 70 mm
× 70 mm) designed in this experiment, and the dimension of the pre-
existing flaw is defined as follow: the length is 15 mm, the width is
about 10 mm, and the thickness is 2 mm. The design structural plane
flaw dip angle θ is 0◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ , 60◦ , and 90◦ . A total of 24 samples are
Fig. 2. Internal flaw of the sample.
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 3. Geometric dimension of flaw angle and loading parameters.

prepared, including intact samples and 4 samples for each type of

inclination, and another group of samples are prepared under the same
conditions as backup.
It is found that the anisotropy of cement mortar samples is better
than that of other rock materials (gypsum, epoxy resin, PMMA, etc.), and
the physical and mechanical parameters are similar to those of sand­
stone (Table 1). At the same time, the shear stress-shear displacement
curve obtained by shear test under normal stress of 3 MPa (Fig. 4) is
consistent with the traditional curve, which can better represent the
mechanical properties of real sandstone. It is proved that the specimens
made of similar materials can further simulate the mechanical proper­
ties of the rocks with built-in flaws.

2.2. Test equipment and procedure

In this test, WDAJ-600 electro-hydraulic servo rock shear rheological

tester is used for mechanical loading (Fig. 5a). The testing machine is
composed of power system, loading system and servo control system. 0
The axial and tangential loading capacity is 600kN, and the loading
accuracy is 1 %. The maximum vertical and horizontal displacement is Fig. 4. Shear stress-shear displacement curve of intact rock-like sample (σ =
30 mm, and the loading accuracy is 0.001 m. To reduce the influence of 3 MPa).
the samples end, we use steel ball antifriction plate and petroleum jelly
to reduce friction, as shown in Fig. 5(c)-(d). The three-dimensional flaw
kHz. The positions of four Nano30 sensors on both sides of the sample
dip angle and normal stress are considered in the test. As shown in Fig. 3,
are shown in Fig. 6. ① and ③ are located at the coplanar diagonal, and
we consider the flaw dip angle of 0◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ , 60◦ , and 90◦ , and the
② and ④ are located at the opposite diagonal. The distance between the
normal stress σ is 1 MPa, 3 MPa, 5 MPa, and 7MP. In the shear test, the
probe and the sample boundary is 10 mm. When fixing the probe, the
axial load is first applied at the rate of 0.02kN/s, which remains un­
coupling agent is usually used to reduce the gap between the probe and
changed after loading to the target value σ and then horizontal load is
the contact surface, and has a transition effect to reduce the acoustic
started at the shear rate of 0.2 mm/min. According to the latest rec­
resistance difference between the sensor and the monitoring surface. At
ommended method of ISRM, the test is stopped when the shear
the same time, the shear cracking behavior of each sample is recorded by
displacement reaches about 10 % of the specimen length (70 mm) [45],
a high-speed high-definition camera with a resolution of 1920 × 1080
that is, the loading stops when the shear displacement reaches 7 mm.
and a frame rate of 100 fps.
An 8-channel PAC-AE win system is used to monitor the loading
failure process (Fig. 5b). The sampling frequency of AE system is set at 1
3. Experiment results
MHz and the preamplifier threshold is 40 dB. The acquisition parameters
HLT, HDT and PDT in the acoustic emission system are 300 µs, 200 µs
3.1. Shear stress-shear displacement curve
and 100 µs respectively. In order to reduce the impact of environment
and machine noise on AE system collection, the channel threshold is set
The shear stress-shear displacement curves of rock-like samples with
at 45 dB. The Nano30 sensor has a resonant frequency of 140 kHz and a
different 3D flaw dip angles under different normal stresses are shown in
sensitivity of 62 dB, and able to capture signal frequencies of 125–750

Table 1
Physical and mechanical parameters of the rock-like material and sandstone.
Density (g/cm3) Uniaxial compressive strength (MPa) Poisson’s ratio Cohesion Friction angle (◦ ) Wave Velocity
(MPa) (m/s)

Rock-like material 2.33 29.64 0.23 8.06 47.8 4060

Sandstone (zhuang 2.2–2.7 20–170 0.02–0.2 4–40 25–60 5500–3100
et al. [44])

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M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 5. Test equipment. (a) Mechanical loading device and high-speed camera; (b) Control system; (c) Sample loading; (d) Anti-friction plate with steel balls.

sudden stress decrease at this stage, indicating that cracks may first
appear in samples with inclination angle θ = 45◦ at this phase. With
the continuous increase of shear stress, local cracks, called initial
cracks, appear on the sample surface, and the secondary cracks also
begin to expand rapidly (as shown in the BC section of Fig. 8). At this
stage, due to the initiation of secondary cracks inside the sample, the
energy at the flaw tip is released and the shear stress begins to
transfer to the rock element with relatively low strength. Macro­
scopically, the shear strength of specimen does not decrease with the
expansion of initial cracks and secondary cracks, but continues to
increase.
Unstable crack propagation stage before peak (BC): After the loading
Fig. 6. AE sensor placement. of AB segment, the shear strength enters the pre-peak unstable stage.
During this time, the strain has accumulated to a certain extent. With
Fig. 7. As can be seen from Fig. 7, the overall characteristics of the test the increase of shear stress, the crack expands and penetrates rapidly
result curves are similar, but they are different at each stage. Before at this stage and reaches the end of BC segment, which is the peak of
reaching the peak shear strength, the shear strength increases with the shear strength. In this stage, the curve can be divided into three
increasing shear displacement. After reaching the peak shear strength, types: (1) As shown in Fig. 7(a) (θ = 0◦ ), the stress curve is steep
the sudden decline mode of each sample is different. According to the before the peak value, and then the stress drops sharply, reflecting
test results and testing data, the shear displacement of the specimen that the crack of the sample expands rapidly and enters the next
when reaching the peak shear strength is generally 1–2.5 mm. However, stage; (2) Before the stress peak, it shows a downward concave
when θ = 45◦ , the shear displacement is in the range of 2.5–3 mm, and shape, and the stress drop is not obvious, as shown in Fig. 7(c)-(d),
these curves rise and fall steadily.7720965672465. reflecting the continuous crack propagation process of the sample;
As can be seen from Fig. 7, each stage of the shear stress-shear (3) The fracture of the curve before the stress peak indicates that the
displacement curve is very complex. Therefore, in order to reveal the sample has local fracture, resulting in the change of the direction or
complex shear fracture mechanism of the sample, taking the shear position of crack propagation and the change of failure mode.
stress-shear stress curve of the sample (θ = 30◦ ) in Fig. 7(a) as an Post peak residual stress stage (CD): In the samples with small
example, the curve and crack propagation characteristics of each phase normal stress (σ = 1 MPa and σ = 3 MPa), the energy of the samples
are as follows (as shown in Fig. 8): is released suddenly and the cracks spread through rapidly, resulting
in a sharp decrease of the peak stress. However, in the samples with
Pore compaction stage inside the sample (OA): At the initial stage of high normal stress (σ = 5 MPa and σ = 7 MPa), the peak stress de­
loading, the shear stress increases slowly and the curve shows an creases slowly and eventually trend to be stable due to the friction
inconspicuous concave shape. The micro pores between the coarse and occlusion of the section, and the hysteretic curve may appear, as
and fine aggregates inside the sample are compacted, and the in­ shown in the θ = 0◦ curve in Fig. 7(b).
ternal prefabricated flaw begins to be deformed and produce primary
cracks.
3.2. Variation law of mechanical parameters of rock-like specimens
Approximate linear elastic stage (AB): In this test, constant
displacement loading is adopted in shear direction. With the increase
It can be seen from Fig. 9(a) that under the action of different normal
of shear displacement, the shear stress increases rapidly and the
stresses, the variation characteristics of shear strength with flaw incli­
slope of curve reaches the maximum. However, unlike other com­
nation are basically similar. Generally, the shear strength of the same
plete rock curves, it is not completely linear deformation. In partic­
normal stress specimens minish first and then increase with the increase
ular, it can be found from Fig. 7 that all the curves for θ = 45◦ show a
of flaw inclination. Especially when σ = 5 MPa, the shear strength of the

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M. Teng et al.
Fig. 7. Shear stress-shear displacement curves of rocks containing flaw under different normal stresses. (a) σ = 1 MPa; (b) σ = 3 MPa; (c) σ = 5 MPa; (d) σ = 7 MPa.
Fig. 8. Shear stress-shear displacement curve division and crack propagation.
sample first increases, then decreases and then increases with the
increasing flaw inclination angle. When the flaw inclination angle in­
creases from 0◦ to 90◦ , the overall shear strength under the same normal
force is basically the same. Interestingly when σ = 1 MPa, the shear
strength reaches the minimum at θ = 60◦ , and the shear strength reaches
the minimum at θ = 45◦ under other normal stress conditions.
In general, once the rock is failure, its shear strength will change
significantly, so it is of great significance to study the mechanical
behavior of the rock after the failure. The variation law of residual shear
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Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
strength with flaw angle and normal stress is shown in Fig. 9(b). It can be
seen from Fig. 9(b) that when σ = 1 MPa, the flaw angle varies from 0◦ to
90◦ , and the residual shear strength changes little and can be ignored.
When σ = 7 MPa, the residual shear strength firstly increases, then de­
creases and then increases with the increase of inclination angle, and
reaches the maximum at θ = 90◦ . That is to say, when the sample is
subjected to high normal stress, dip angle has a great influence on the
residual shear strength. Through the observation of Table 2, it is found
that the residual shear strength increases with the increase of normal
stress. When θ = 0◦ , the increase of residual shear strength is the min­
imum with the increase of normal stress; when θ = 90◦ , the increase of
residual shear strength from 1 MPa to 7 MPa is the maximum; and
compared with other conditions, θ = 90◦ , the fluctuation of each stage is
the maximum. Based on the analysis of Fig. 9(a)-(b) and Table 2, under
low stress condition, the residual shear stress of rock-like samples after
failure are also larger because the internal friction force and bite force of
rocks are larger than those under low stress, which can be visually
characterized by the percentage of residual shear strength. At the same
time, under the action of the same normal stress, the residual shear
strength of rock-like samples is different with the influence of different
angles, and the gradient of residual shear strength is relatively large at
different angles.
The corresponding shear displacement when the specimen reaches
the peak shear strength is called the peak shear displacement. Fig. 9(c)
shows the variation law of the peak shear displacement of fissured rock
samples under different constant normal stresses. There are two laws of
peak shear displacement between different normal stress with the
change of flaw inclination angle. When σ = 1 MPa and σ = 5 MPa, there
is a “Λ” type change law; When σ = 3 MPa and σ = 7 MPa, the “W” type
change law appears. The peak shear strength of all rock-like specimens
under normal stress reaches the maximum when the flaw dip angle is
45◦ , and reaches the maximum when σ = 5 MPa, with the maximum
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 9. Mechanical parameters of samples containing embedded flaw. (a) Peak shear strength; (b) residual shear strength; (c) The displacement at peak shear
strength; (d) Shear stiffness.

Table 2
Partial mechanical parameters of rock containing three-dimensional flaw under different normal stresses.
Group Flaw angle Sample Shear stress peak Residual shear stress The displacement at peak shear Percentage of residual
(Normal stress/ (◦ ) number (MPa) (MPa) strength (mm) strength (%)
MPa)

1 0 T-0-1 4.92 0.72 0.994 14.6

30 T-30-1 4.75 0.79 1.736 16.6
45 T-45-1 3.59 0.93 2.772 25.9
60 T-60-1 2.99 0.59 1.603 19.7
90 T-90-1 4.58 0.85 1.687 18.6
3 0 T-0-3 8.23 1.84 2.135 22.4
30 T-30-3 7.79 2.54 1.645 32.6
45 T-45-3 5.49 2.29 2.504 41.7
60 T-60-3 6.89 1.99 1.414 28.9
90 T-90-3 7.19 2.49 1.995 34.6
5 0 T-0-5 9.68 3.90 1.694 40.3
30 T-30-5 10.84 3.98 1.96 36.7
45 T-45-5 7.03 4.14 2.842 58.9
60 T-60-5 9.17 3.99 1.855 43.5
90 T-90-5 9.43 3.06 1.442 32.4
7 0 T-0-7 12.22 4.46 2.17 36.5
30 T-30-7 11.74 5.08 1.722 43.3
45 T-45-7 10.24 5.34 2.611 52.1
60 T-60-7 11.96 4.94 1.89 41.3
90 T-90-7 11.84 5.86 1.834 49.5

Note: The second digit represents the flaw inclination, and the third digit represents the applied normal stress.

value of 2.84 mm; The minimum value is 0.994 mm at σ = 5 MPa and θ
= 0◦ .
The variation of shear stiffness of fissured rock under different con­
stant normal stresses is shown in Fig. 9(d). We usually use shear stiffness
“KS” to express the deformation characteristics of rock. It can be seen
from Fig. 9(d) that the shear stiffness changes of rock-like specimens
under constant normal stress are “V” and “M”, respectively, and the
shear stiffness is the smallest when the flaw inclination angle is 45◦ . The
shear stiffness of all rocks with different inclination angles is in the range
of 15–68 MN/m. The minimum shear stiffness appears in the sample of
σ = 1 MPa and θ = 45◦ , and the maximum shear stiffness appears in the
sample of σ = 7 MPa and θ = 30◦ . It can be seen from the comparison of
Fig. 9(c) and (d) that the peak shear displacement is just opposite to the
corresponding shear stiffness, that is, the shear stiffness can well reflect

6
M. Teng et al.
the shear displacement characteristics of fissured rocks.
3.3. Failure patterns with different conditions
The whole failure process of all samples is recorded by a high-speed
camera. Through reading previous studies, we know that the tensile
fracture is characterized by the opening of particles inside the sample,
and the shear fracture is characterized by the shear displacement be­
tween the particles and the exfoliation of the rock surface. At the same
time, the characteristics of the cross-section have obvious differences.
The tensile fracture surface is rough and there is no obvious scratch.
Shear fracture surface is often accompanied by the appearance of white
scratches, shear fragments or shear fracture zones. Three failure modes
are summarized by analyzing all photos, namely tensile failure mode,
tension-shear mixed failure mode and shear failure mode.
3.3.1. Tensile failure mode
The initial crack appears from the edge and rapidly expands to both
sides until the specimen is completely destroyed, such as σ = 1 MPa, θ =
0◦ (as shown in Fig. 11). The flaws inside the sample start to be subjected
to force at the initial stage of loading. With the continuous increase of
load, the flaw tip generates secondary cracks in different directions in
the AB section of Fig. 8. When the specimen is under low normal stress
and θ = 0◦ , the surface crack of the specimen will rapidly expand the
direction parallel to the flaw. When the peak shear strength is reached,
the whole specimen is broken through the shear plane and almost no
shear failure occurs during the failure process. The failure mode is
abbreviated as tensile failure mode (T).
3.3.2. Tension-shear mixed failure mode
The cracks of the sample first begin to initiates from the two edges or
the middle, and rapidly expands to the other side until the sample fails,
such as σ = 3 MPa, θ = 30◦ (as shown in Fig. 12). Similar to the crack
propagation mechanism in tensile failure mode, under the action of
initial load, secondary cracks will first initiate at the internal flaw tip,
and then crack will appear on the sample surface. Shear cracks are easy
to initiate when the flaw angle is between 30◦ and 90◦ . In addition,
under the action of high normal stress, the friction and bite force of the
rock structural plane increase, and secondary cracks may also be pro­
duced outward along both sides of the edge of the flaw, which is
accompanied by tensile cracks. This situation is more likely to occur
when the flaw angle is θ = 90◦ . The shear section of the sample is rough
and both edges are accompanied by tensile failure. Therefore, this fail­
ure is abbreviated as tension-shear mixed failure mode (T-S).
3.3.3. Shear failure mode
Due to the action of normal stress, the crack of the sample initiates
from both ends and rapidly expands to edges. The continuous increase of
shear load eventually leads to the through failure of the sample, and the
crack propagation mechanism is consistent with the previous failure
mode. The sample section is smooth with obvious white scratches, and
there are broken powdery coarse particles in the middle. At the same
° ° ° ° °
° 4.1. Effect of flaw dip angle and normal stress on acoustic emission counts
Fig. 10. Failure modes of rock samples under normal stress and flaw tendency.
7
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
time, there is an obvious angle between the crack propagation direction
and the flaw direction, such as samples with σ = 7 MPa, θ = 30◦ (as
shown in Fig. 12), so this failure is called shear failure mode (S).
The failure modes of all samples are shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen
from the figure that the tensile failure mode is mainly concentrated on
samples with σ = 1 MPa, θ = 0◦ , while the shear failure modes are
mainly concentrated on samples with σ = 7 MPa, θ = 30◦ and σ = 7 MPa,
θ = 60◦ , and the rest of the samples are mixed tension-shear failure
modes. Through the analysis of the failure process of all samples, it is
found that the section characteristics and failure modes of rock-like
samples have obvious regularity with the different normal stress and
crack angle, which need to be discussed separately.
In order to have a more detailed understanding of the failure pro­
cesses and failure modes of rock-like samples under different normal
stresses and flaw dip angles, samples with σ = 1 MPa (Fig. 11) and θ =
30◦ (Fig. 12) are taken as examples for analysis. “S” represents shear
failure and “T” represents tensile failure. The sample images in column
(a) represent the crack initiation position and propagation trend of the
samples during the initial loading stage, the sample images in column
(b) represent the crack morphology when the samples reach the peak
shear strength. The sample images in column (c) represent the failure
mode of the samples when the shear displacement reach 7 mm after the
peak shear strength and the sample pictures in column (d) represent the
rough characteristics of the sample section.
3.3.4. Influence of flaw angle
Under the normal stress of 1 MPa, the crack growth and failure
modes of samples with different flaw angles are shown in Fig. 11. As can
be seen from Fig. 11(a), there are three ways of crack initiation: (1)
Cracks begin to initiate from one side of the two edges (usually on the
left side) and rapidly expands to the other side, such as samples with
flaw θ = 0◦ . (2) The sample begins to crack from both sides and rapidly
expands to the middle until fracture. This initiation mode is often
accompanied by a large oblique pulling trend, such as sample with flaw
θ = 60◦ . (3) The fracture starts from the middle part of the sample, ex­
pands rapidly to the two edges, and finally breaks, accompanied by
minor tensile failure when θ = 90◦ .
In Fig. 11(b), it can be seen that when the normal stress is 1 MPa, the
shear cracks gradually increase with the increase of flaw inclination, and
finally reach the maximum when θ = 60◦ . The failure process of all
samples corresponding to the final failure mode are shown in Fig. 11(c).
From the shear bands shown in Fig. 11(c), we find that the exfoliation
area of the samples surface increase with the increase of the inclination
angle, reaching the maximum at θ = 60◦ , and a large number of shear
fragments appear at this time. At the same time, a white shear scratch
appears at the shear failure in Fig. 11(d).
3.3.5. Influence of normal stresses
The crack growth and failure modes of rock with flaw angle of 30◦
under different normal stresses are shown in Fig. 12. It can be seen from
Fig. 12(a) that the crack initiation modes are included in the crack
initiation modes of the previous section and will not be repeated here. As
can be seen from Fig. 12(b), with the increase of normal stress in rocks
under the same flaw angle, shear cracks become more and more, and the
crack width becomes larger and larger. The increase of the normal stress
also leads to the gradual increase of the surface peeling area of the
specimens shown in Fig. 12(c). Meanwhile, it can be seen from Fig. 12(d)
that more and more shear segments and white scratches appear in the
section under high normal stress, and the failure mode is closer to the
shear failure.
4. Acoustic emission characteristic parameters
Before the test loading, the acoustic emission probe should be
M. Teng et al.
Fig. 11. Failure process and section characteristics of specimens with different flaw inclination angles under the same normal stress (σ = 1 MPa).
directly close to the sample surface, so as to receive the acoustic emis­
sion signal more accurately during the sample loading process. Fig. 13
defines the characteristic parameters of acoustic emission waveform
signal in detail. In this study, four signal channels are used to monitor
the shear failure process of samples. The evolution curves of shear stress,
acoustic emission counts and cumulative counts of samples under
different shear stresses and flaw inclination angles are obtained by
analyzing the acoustic emission generated by micro-cracks during rock-
like shear process (as shown in Fig. 14). At the same time, the evolution
law of cracks can be obtained by analyzing the variation law of AE
counts under different loading times.
By analyzing Fig. 14(a)-(e), except for Fig. 14(c), AE counts under
other conditions are less before the shear peak, indicating that AE ac­
tivities are in a static state. In Fig. 14(c), the pre-peak acoustic emission
count increases sharply, which is consistent with the sudden decrease of
shear strength in the shear stress-displacement curve, indicating that the
sample under such conditions appears large micro-cracks at this time.
Under the same normal stress conditions, the maximum value of the AE
counts remains at the 104 orders of magnitude, while the maximum
value of the cumulative counts remains at the 106 orders of magnitude.
Comparing the cumulative counts under different flaw inclination an­
gles, it can be concluded that with the increase of the inclination angle of
the pre-existing flaw, the cumulative acoustic emission counts decrease
8
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
first and then increase. This characteristic is consistent with the previous
analysis of the influence of flaw inclination angle on shear strength
under the same conditions (Fig. 9a).
When the principal stresses are lower (σ = 1 MPa and σ = 3 MPa), the
inner convex body is completely sheared and the bite force decreases
with the increase of the shear stress peak. At this point, AE counts in­
creases sharply, and the slope of cumulative counts reaches the
maximum value. The macro surface cracks of the sample propagate
rapidly and penetrates through the whole sample, eventually leading to
rock fracture and failure (Fig. 14b and Fig. 14f). Under the condition of
high stress (σ = 5 MPa and σ = 7 MPa), the convex body inside the
sample is cut slowly due to the increase of bite force and friction force,
resulting in relatively stable AE activity. The distribution trends of AE
characteristic parameters are shown in Fig. 14(g)-(h). When the flaw
angle is the same (θ = 30◦ ), the cumulative counts of AE under different
normal stresses are compared. It can be seen that the cumulative counts
increase with the increase of normal stress, which is consistent with the
change of the corresponding shear strength. In all normal stress condi­
tions, the post-peak residual stage is almost similar, that is, the convex
body inside the specimen is completely cut off, and the force between
the two sections of the specimen decreases and slips. At this time, AE
activities are also in a stable stage. As we can be seen, the change of AE
counts and cumulative count can reflect the evolution process of internal
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 12. Failure process and section characteristics of specimens with different normal stresses under the same flaw dip angle (θ = 30◦ ).

Fig. 13. Definition of AE waveform signal parameters.
micro-cracks in the shear process of the specimens.
4.2. Analysis of RA/AF characteristics
JCMS-IIIB 5706(2003) [46] first proposed a method to detect and
classify concrete crack growth by using acoustic emission characteristic
parameters. The key parameters in identifying crack types are RA and
AF. RA is obtained by the ratio of rising time to maximum amplitude in
AE parameters, AF is obtained by the ratio of AE counts to duration [47].
The equation is as follows:
Rise time
RA =
Amplitude
Count
AF =
Duration
As shown in Fig. 15, the RA and AF data are used as scatter diagrams,
and the tensile crack and shear crack are distinguished by the diagonal
of the scatter diagram. The data points on the upper side of the dotted
line are the points generated by tensile failure, and the data points on the
lower side are the points generated by shear crack failure. Based on this
theory, domestic and foreign scholars have conducted more in-depth
research on the relationship between RA and AF. In this paper, the
linear relationship between RA and AF (AF = 3RA + 75) obtained by
Kun et al. [47] is used as the transition line of tensile-shear crack. Fig. 16
shows the evolution process of tensile-shear crack classification ob­
tained by AE feature parameters. The black dotted line represents the
transition line of the tensile-shear crack, and the red dotted line area
corresponds to the violent active period of acoustic emission. The data in
the scatter plot are colored over time, with a time interval of 100 s.
Fig. 16(a)-(e) show the evolution law of tensile-shear crack with time
for rock-like samples under different inclination angles (σ = 1 MPa). It
can be seen from the scatter color and tensile-shear crack curve in the
figure that the AE signals of all samples are in a “quiet period” at the
early stage of loading. When θ = 0◦ , the cumulative curve of cracks starts
to increase slowly at 300 s, and at this time, the AE signals are in the
“active period”. In the whole process after that, the cumulative number
of tensile cracks is always greater than that of shear cracks. When θ =
30◦ , the cumulative number of cracks starts to increase rapidly at 400 s,
and the shear cracks are always larger than the tensile cracks throughout
the whole process. At θ = 45◦ , the crack curve develops slowly in 200 s-
500 s, while the crack accumulation increases rapidly after 500 s. The
whole process is dominated by shear cracks. At θ = 60◦ , the crack
development trend is similar to that at θ = 45◦ . When θ = 90◦ , the
tensile-shear crack increases rapidly at 370 s, and the tensile crack is
(1) always smaller than the shear crack in the whole process. Fig. 16(b) and
(f)-(g) show the evolution law of tensile-shear cracks of rock-like sam­
ples with time under different normal stresses (θ = 45◦ ). Except for σ = 7
(2)
MPa, the other three stress states are roughly the same, that is, the
acoustic emission signal is relatively calm in the early stage of loading.

9
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 14. Variation of shear strength, AE counts and cumulative counts with loading time. (a) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 0◦ ; (b) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (c) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 45◦ ; (d) σ
= 1 MPa,θ = 60◦ ; (e) σ = 1 MPa,θ = 90◦ ; (f) σ = 3 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (g) σ = 5 MPa,θ = 30◦ ; (h) σ = 7 MPa, θ = 30◦ .

10
M. Teng et al.
Fig. 15. Crack classification based on acoustic emission parameters.
With the gradual increase in horizontal load, the acoustic emission
signal is in an “active period”, and the cumulative number of cracks
mainly dominated by shear cracks increases rapidly.
It can be concluded from Fig. 16 that the number of shear cracks is
greater than that of tensile cracks at all dip angles except θ = 0◦ . With the
increase of flaw inclination, the proportion of shear cracks increases and
gradually becomes the main failure mode. At θ = 60◦ , the proportion of
shear crack is the largest, and the shear failure is the most obvious. These
phenomena are consistent with the failure patterns observed during the
test. Under the same flaw inclination angle, the proportion of shear
crack increases gradually with the increase of normal stress, reaching
the maximum at σ = 7 MPa. It can be seen from the above analysis that
the RA/AF value can reflect the classification and development of
tensile-shear cracks in specimens.
4.3. Evolution characteristics of AE b value
The parameters obtained in the AE monitoring process may be
accidental, therefore, this section will comprehensively evaluate the
precursory characteristics of rock-like failure through acoustic emission
event rate and b-value. F(γ i) (AE rate) represents the average frequency
of acoustic emission hits in the “sliding time window” for n consecutive
events [48]. The value of n mainly depends on the total number of
monitored AE events. The calculation steps of F(γ i) are as follows:
First of all, in this paper, the value of each group of continuous events
(n) is 100, and the mean value (γii) between consecutive events (Δti) in
the same group is calculated as follows:
γ i = Δti /n = (tn+i− 1 − ti− 1 )/n i = 2, 3, … (1).
Where tn+i-1 and ti-1 represent the number of acoustic emission events
occurring at n + i-1 and i-1, respectively. When i = 1, γ1 can be expressed
as:
γ 1 = (tn − t1 )/n (2)
Finally, F(γi) in a given time can be expressed as:
1 to different sensors and the spatial position of the sensor arrangement,
F(γi ) = γ−i i = 1, 2, 3…
In particular, since each specimen will generate a large number of AE
events at the time of critical failure and the time interval between each
event is very small, equations (2) and (3) do not define n-1 AE events,
which will not affect the accuracy of the overall test results.
The AE b-value, proposed by Gutenberg and Richter in 1944, is
11
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
mainly used to describe the relative relationship between seismic fre­
quency and magnitude, that is, the logarithm of the cumulative number
(N) greater than magnitude (M) is linearly related to magnitude (M)
[49]. In recent years, b-value has been widely used to analyze and
predict the failure precursors of rocks. When the b-value is small, it in­
dicates that the sample has a violent fracture behavior. On the contrary,
it indicates that there are a lot of micro-cracks in the sample. Based on
this theoretical basis [50,51], this paper statistically calculates the b-
value based on the amplitude, and the specific relationship is expressed
as:
LgN = a − b(AdB /20) (4)
Where a and b are constants, AdB is the maximum amplitude (dB) of
the AE signal, AdB = 20lgAmax, and Amax is the maximum amplitude
(microvolt) of the signal.
Fig. 17 shows the evolution characteristics of AE event rate, b-value
and shear stress-time curve. The pink dashed box in the figure shows the
b-value mutation of the sample, and the small diagram is a local
enlarged view of the b-value dense area. In Fig. 17(a), the b-value in the
early stage of AE has been in a high state, and the AE event rate is small,
reflecting that the AE activity is relatively stable. The AE event rate
increases abruptly at 380 s, and the corresponding b-value decreases for
the first time, indicating that a large number of micro-cracks begin to
appear and rapidly expand in the specimen, which is the precursor point
of specimen failure. The AE b-value drops for the second time at 400 s,
reaching the minimum value (0.49), at which time the sample is
completely broken. In Fig. 17(b), the AE b-value suddenly drops for the
first time at 350 s, and the AE event rate increases sharply. With the
progress of the test, the number of AE hits increase, and the b-value
decreases for the second time, reaching the minimum value (0.89) at
610 s, at which time the sample is completely fractured. The variation
pattern of AE b-value in Fig. 17(c) and (b) are roughly similar, with two
sudden drops, and the minimum value is 0.93 at 970 s.
From the AE event rate, b-value and shear stress curve coupling in
Fig. 17, it can be seen that the rapid propagation of cracks and the
complete failure of specimen generally occur at the sudden drop of b-
value. In particular, when the dip angle is 60◦ (Fig. 17b), the b-value has
multiple mutations, which matches the complexity of the section in
3.3.1. It can be seen from the above that the analysis of AE b-value can
further explore the failure time domain and failure precursor charac­
teristics of rock-like samples, and provide a reliable test basis for the
wider application of AE technology in the future.
4.4. AE event distribution (localization) and crack propagation
The acoustic emission positioning technology used in this study is the
PCI-II three-dimensional positioning real-time monitoring technology of
the American Physical Acoustics Corporation (PAC). Before each test
loading, the P-wave prediction of rock-like samples is completed, and
the P-wave velocity (3470 m/s) is measured by the active source method
(one sensor is set in the active mode and the other sensor is working on
the receiver) of the acoustic emission system. The p-wave is automati­
cally captured by the root mean square (RMS) automatic selection al­
gorithm. The RMS auto-selection algorithm first calculates the auto-
selection function using the moving window method, amplitude peaks
appear in the function, and these peaks can be used to estimate the
arrival time. The AE system uses the time difference positioning method
to determine the acoustic emission source, that is, according to the time-
difference of the AE signal emitted by the same acoustic emission source
the equation is listed and solved by their geometric relationship, and the
accurate position of the acoustic emission source can be obtained. The
time-difference method assumes that the acoustic propagation of the
material is isotropic and the wave velocity is constant. If at least three
channels record a waveform with amplitudes above a preset threshold
within a 25 µs time window, an acoustic emission event will be
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 16. Evolution trend of RA/AF of rock-like specimens with time under different conditions. (a) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 0◦ ; (b) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (c) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 45◦ ;
(d) σ = 1 MPa,θ = 60◦ ; (e) σ = 1 MPa,θ = 90◦ ; (f) σ = 3 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (g) σ = 5 MPa,θ = 30◦ ; (h) σ = 7 MPa, θ = 30◦ .

identified. with two different flaw dip angles in four periods, as shown in Fig. 18.
This section will explore the internal damage process of fractured From Fig. 18(a) (θ = 30◦ ), it can be seen that the AE fracture source is
rock mass by analyzing the time domain characteristics of AE event less and the amplitude is smaller in the early stage (0–200 s) of hori­
distribution. We analyze the distribution of AE fracture sources in rocks zontal load loading. With the continuous application of horizontal load

12
M. Teng et al.
Fig. 17. The evolution characteristics of b value and AE rate with time under different conditions. (a) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (b) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 60◦ ; (c) σ = 5 MPa, θ
= 30◦ .
(200–400 s), a large number of AE fracture sources appear around the
3D flaw in the middle of the sample, and the shear fracture sources
account for a large proportion, which is the precursor of the sample
fracture. The number of AE events increase sharply between 400 and
600 s. The AE sources are mainly concentrated in the middle and upper
right corner. At this time, the sample is completely fractured. During the
residual strength period (600–800 s), AE fracture sources are mainly
13
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
concentrated in the middle part of the sample. However, when the
inclination angle is 60◦ (Fig. 18b), the AE starts to produce more fracture
sources at the early stage of load loading, and they are mainly concen­
trated at the 3D flaw tip, with a large amplitude. In the rapid crack
development stage, AE events are mainly concentrated in the middle and
upper parts, and the amplitude is large. During the fracture of the sample
(400–600 s), the distribution of acoustic emission fracture sources is
M. Teng et al. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750

Fig. 18. Distribution of AE fracture sources in different time periods. (a) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (b) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 60◦ . The size of the sphere represents the amplitude,
the red sphere represents the shear fracture source, and the blue sphere represents the tensile fracture source. (For interpretation of the references to color in this
figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

relatively loose. expressed as:

From the above analysis, we can see that the distribution of AE
1 ∑ n
x − Xi
events in the fracture process of samples with different flaw dip angles is p(x) = K( ) (5)
quite different. The fractured rock mass has obvious aggregation during nh i=1 h
the fracture process (200–600 s). The high-density aggregation area of Where h is the width of kernel function, n is the total number of
these fracture sources can be regarded as a high-risk area. In order to acoustic emission events, and K(x) is a kernel function. In this study, we
further identify and visualize the AE gathering area, we will use another choose multivariate Gaussian function as the kernel function, and its
method to study the high-risk area of rock-like samples. Kernel density function satisfies Eq. (6):
estimation (KDE), as a non-parametric method, can calculate the prob­
ability density estimation of AE event features [52]. The “true” density K(x) =
1
exp(−
1 2
‖x‖ ) (6)
estimates for any set of AE event data (X1, X2, X3, …, Xn) at X can be (2π)d/2 2

K
K

Fig. 19. The cloud map of kernel density estimation and maximum point for fractured rocks at different times. (a) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 30◦ ; (b) σ = 1 MPa, θ = 60◦ .

14
M. Teng et al.
According to the principle of kernel density estimation, the distri­
bution cloud diagram of AE events is obtained (as shown in Fig. 19). It
can be seen from Fig. 18 that the distribution of AE events has certain
aggregation and regularity, so the maximum density point obtained by
KDE is generally considered to be the fastest growing position of cracks.
When the flaw dip angle is 30◦ (Fig. 19a), the maximum density point
first appears at the edge of the sample. As the horizontal load continues
to be applied, the maximum density point of the sample moves to the tip
of the flaw before failure, and the shear micro-cracks mainly occur in the
sample. When the sample is damaged, the maximum density point still
appears at the tip of the flaw, and a small amount of tensile micro-cracks
appear at this time. Therefore, the failure mode of the sample is a tensile-
shear failure mode dominated by shear failure. When the flaw dip angle
is 60◦ , the maximum density value appears at the flaw tip at the initial
stage of horizontal load. With the continuous application of horizontal
load, the maximum density point moves towards the end of sample, and
a large number of shear cracks appear inside the sample. When the
sample is damaged, the maximum density point moves to the lower
middle corner.
Through the distribution characteristics of AE events, it is found that
the flaw inclination angle has a significant influence on the space–time
characteristics of AE events. Since the failure of the sample is caused by
the accumulation of damage inside the rock, most AE events occur at the
main crack position, that is, the middle position of the sample. Inter­
estingly, AE events accumulate rapidly near the shear zone before
specimen failure, but decrease rapidly after specimen failure, which can
be used as a precursor of rock failure. According to the kernel density
cloud map and the movement of the maximum density point, it can be
found that the nuclear density distribution is different with different
flaw inclination angles, but the maximum density point always moves
from the tip to the end of the sample.
5. Conclusion
In this study, a method for making rock-like specimens containing
embedded 3D flaw from cement mortar is proposed, and a series of shear
tests are carried out on specimens with different flaw inclinations. The
effects of three-dimensional flaw angle and different normal stresses on
the mechanical properties of the specimens are studied. In addition, the
AE characteristic parameters during the failure process of rock-like
specimens are comprehensively analyzed, and the relationship be­
tween the kernel density estimation results and crack evolution under
two different flaw dip angles is analyzed. The conclusions can be sum­
marized as follows:
(1) The complex shear stress-shear displacement curve in the shear
test can be divided into four stages: pore compaction stage,
approximate linear elasticity stage, unstable fracture propagation
stage before the peak and the stage of post-peak residual stress.
Particularly interesting is that when θ = 45◦ , the pre-peak stress
suddenly drops significantly. Under the action of low normal
stress, the peak stress is prone to a sudden decline, while under
the action of high normal stress, the peak stress drops slowly and
eventually tends to be stable. When the normal stress is large, the
influence of inclination angle on the residual shear strength is
great, while when the normal stress is small, the influence of
inclination angle on the residual shear strength can be ignored.
(2) The crack initiation modes of all samples can be classified into
three types: simultaneous initiation of both sides, initiation of one
side and rapid expansion of middle initiation to both sides. When
the normal stress σ = 1 MPa, the shear failure characteristics
(section characteristics) become more obvious with the increase
of the flaw angle, and finally the most obvious shear failure
characteristics appear in the section of the sample at θ = 60◦ . The
tensile failure mode mainly appears in the sample with σ = 1
MPa, θ = 0◦ , and the shear failure mode mainly appears in the
15
Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 124 (2023) 103750
samples with σ = 7 MPa, θ = 30◦ and σ = 7 MPa, θ = 60◦ . The rest
of the specimens are in tension-shear mixed failure mode.
(3) By comparing the AE characteristic parameters and the shear
stress-time curve of the sample, it is found that the acoustic
emission activity can be divided into three stages: the quiet stage
in the early stage of loading, the active stage, and the residual
strength quiet stage. The sudden increase point of AE count can
be used to predict the precursor point of rock fracture. It is
observed in the RA-AF scatter plot and the tension-shear crack
accumulation curve that when θ = 0◦ , the number of tensile
cracks is obviously larger than the number of shear cracks, and
shear cracks are smaller than tensile cracks at other inclinations,
which is consistent with the failure mode observed in the test.
(4) The rapid propagation of cracks and the complete failure of
specimens generally occur when the b-value drops suddenly, and
the minimum b-value point can be used as the precursor char­
acteristic point of specimen failure. Through the KDE analysis on
the distribution of acoustic emission events, the damage location
of rock in each stage is effectively identified. The position change
of the maximum density point is consistent with the crack prop­
agation trend of the sample, almost following the uniform diffu­
sion from the middle to the end of the specimen.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (52164001, 52064006, 52004072), Talents of Guizhou University
(Grant No. 201901), the Special Research Funds of Guizhou University
(Grant No. 201903, 202011, 202012), Science and Technology Support
Project of Guizhou (No. [2020]4Y044) and No. [2018]2787), Guizhou
University Cultivation Program ([2020] No. 1), Higher Education
research project of Guizhou University (GDGJYJ2021009).
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Further reading
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process of multiple pre-existing flaws in rock-like materials subjected to biaxial
compressive loads, Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 49 (2016) 1611–1627.